APPENDICES

Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764-early 1800s

MOLAISON

[MOH-lay-zonh]

ACADIA

Gabriel Moulaison dit Recontre, born in Limoges, France, in c1685, came to Acadia by 1702, the year he fathered a daughter by Marie, daughter of Olivier Daigre and Marie Gaudet and widow of Pierre Sibilau, at Port-Royal.  Gabriel dit Recontre and Marie did not marry.  Their daughter married into the Henshaw family.  In July 1706, at Port-Royal, Gabriel married Marie, daughter of Julien Aubois dit Saint-Julien of Louisfert, Nantes, and Jeanne Aimée of the Cap-Sable area; Gabriel's mother-in-law likely was Métis.  He and wife Marie settled at Cap-Sable, where she gave him nine children, four sons and five daughters, all of whom created families of their own.  Gabriel dit Recontre's daughters by his legitimate wife married into the Bertrand, Doucet, Mius d'Entremont, and Viger families.  

Oldest son Pierre, born in c1709, married Marie-Josèphe, daughter of Joseph Doucet and Marie-Madeleine Robichaud, in c1750. 

Jacques, born in c1712 (another source says c1720), married Cécile, daughter of Ambroise Melanson and Marguerite Comeau, at Annapolis Royal in November 1743.  

Joseph, born in the late 1710s or early 1720s , married Jeanne, daughter of Augustin Comeau and Jeanne Levron, probably at Pobomcoup in July 1753. 

Youngest son Gabriel, fils, born in c1724, married Anne-Marie, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Porlier and Anne-Marie de Saint-Étienne de La Tour and a great-granddaughter of the famous Charles La Tour, probably at Pobomcoup on the same day his older brother Joseph married. 

[For more of this family in pre- and post-dispersal Acadia and Canada, see Book Three]

Since the family was relatively new to Acadia, its members were more or less together in 1755, on the eve of Le Grand Dérangement.  Progenitor Gabriel, père was still alive when his sons Joseph and Gabriel, fils married at Cap-Sable in July 1753, but he probably died soon afterwards, in his late 60s or early 70s, and did not live long enough to accompany his family into exile.  

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

[For the family's travails during the Great Upheaval, see Book Six]

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Some of the Moulaisons who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 settled in river communities, where their name evolved into Molaison: 

Jacques Molaison, fils, age 38, wife Marie-Blanche Doiron, age 41, and three of their children--Marie-Rose, called Rose, age 10; Marie-Sophie, called Sophie, age 9; and Jacques III, age 6--crossed on Le Beaumont, the third of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in August.  They followed most of their fellow passengers to the Baton Rouge area.  Daughter Rose married Louis-François, son of fellow Acadian François Daigle, at Baton Rouge in July 1790; Louis-François also had come to Louisiana aboard Le Beaumont.  Sophie married Pierre, son of fellow Acadian Charles Broussard, at Baton Rouge in March 1794; Pierre had come to Louisiana aboard Le Bon Papa, the first of the Seven Ships.  Jacques, fils remained at Baton Rouge, where he died in July 1812, in his mid-60s.  He and Marie-Blanche had no more children in Louisiana, so their only son, Jacques III, carried on the line in what became West Baton Rouge Parish. 

Marie-Modeste, 40-year-old daughter of Jacques Molaison and sister of Jacques, fils, crossed on La Ville d'Archangel, the sixth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in early December.  With her were husband Ambroise Bourg, age 53, two sons, ages 8 and 1, and seven daughters, ages 20 to 2.  Marie-Modeste, Ambroise, and their large family followed the most of their fellow passengers from their ship to the new Acadian community of Bayou des Écores, in the New Feliciana District north of Baton Rouge.  Ambroise died not long after they reached Louisiana, and Marie-Modeste remarried to Joseph-Constans, son of fellow Acadian Joseph Granger, probably at Bayou des Écores in July 1790.  Joseph-Constans also had come to Louisiana aboard La Ville d'Archangel.  Marie-Modeste's Bourg children settled in the Baton Rouge area.

Descendants of Jacques MOLAISON III (1779-1854; Gabriel dit Recontre, Jacques)

Jacques III, son of Jacques Molaison, fils and Marie-Blanche Doiron, born at Nantes, France, in May 1779, followed his family to Louisiana aboard Le Beaumont and settled with them at Baton Rouge, where he married cousin Céleste-Renée, daughter of French nobleman Félix-Gilles-Louis Bernard du Montier and his Acadian wife Marie-Victoire Bourg, in May 1807.  Céleste's father was a veteran of the American Revolution.  Her maternal grandmother was Marie-Modeste Molaison, Jacques III's paternal aunt.  Céleste gave Jacques III over a dozen children, at least nine of them sons.  Their daughters married into the Daigle and Gras families.  Economically, Jacques III did very well during the antebellum period perhaps because of the wealth and influence of his in-laws.  In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted 50 slaves--21 males and 29 females, all black except for 2 mulattoes, ages from 50 years to 3 months--on Jacques Molaison's plantation.  Jacques III, like his father, lived to a ripe old age.  He was buried in the family tomb at Brusly Landing, West Baton Rouge Parish, in December 1854, age 75--one of the last Acadian immigrants in Louisiana to join our ancestors.  One wonders what happened to all of his slaves after his death; none of his sons appear as slaveholders in the federal census of 1860.  

1

Oldest son Jacob or Jacques Félix, also called Jacques, fils, born near Baton Rouge in December 1811, married Irma, daughter of fellow Acadians Pierre Foret and Arthémise Landry, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in January 1835.  Their son Dorville was born probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in December 1835, and Jacques Joseph Osward in July 1846. 

2

Agricole Prudent, called Prudent, born in West Baton Rouge Parish in October 1816, married Marie, daughter of Bernard Peyronnin and Marie Grassie, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in April 1837.  Their daughter married into the Broussard family.  Prudent died in West Baton Rouge Parish in July 1838, soon after his marriage, age 21.  He evidently fathered no sons, so this line of the family, except for its blood, died with him.  In August 1850, Prudent's remains were moved to a new family tomb at Brusly Landing, West Baton Rouge Parish.  

3

Jules Augustave, baptized at the St. Gabriel church, Iberville Parish, age unrecorded, in May 1820, married cousin and fellow Acadian Elisa or Élise Dupuis at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in October 1838; they had to secure a dispensation for third degree of relationship in order to marry.  Their son Jules was born probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in January 1840, and Joseph George in December 1847.  

4

Théodule Gil, born in West Baton Rouge Parish in November 1820, married Victorine, daughter of fellow Acadians Narcisse Landry and Marie Carmélite Hébert of West Baton Rouge Parish, at the Baton Rouge church, East Baton Rouge Parish, in November 1843.  Their son Odon was born in West Baton Rouge Parish in December 1845, Numa Amédée in December 1848, and Joseph Théophile in June 1854.  In August 1850, the federal census taker in West Baton Rouge Parish counted 2 slaves--a 25-year-old male, and a 16-year-old female, both blacks--on T. Molaison's farm.  Théodule died near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, in September 1857, age 36.  

5

Théophile Bernard, born in West Baton Rouge Parish in May 1823, died there in May 1850, age 27.  He probably did not marry.  

6

Paul, born probably in West Baton Rouge Parish in the early 1820s, married fellow Acadian Hélène Marie Babin, probably in the mid- to late 1840s.  Their son William Paul was born near Brusly, West Baton Rouge Parish, in 1849. 

7

Alexandre was born in West Baton Rouge Parish in December 1829 but died there at age 2 in September 1831.  

8

Léon was born in West Baton Rouge Parish in April 1832 and may have died young.  

9

Youngest son Numa was born in West Baton Rouge Parish in February 1836 and probably died young.

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

Some of the Moulaisons who came to Louisiana from France in 1785 chose to go to upper Bayou Lafourche, where their name was spelled Molaison. 

Marie-Josèphe Doucet, age 60, widow of Pierre Molaison, and her unmarried son, Joseph Molaison, age 30, a sailor like his uncle Jacques, fils, crossed on L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships, which reached New Orleans in November.  Marie-Josèphe did not remarry.  Although Joseph had fewer sons than his cousin Jacques III of West Baton Rouge Parish, Joseph's sons and grandsons were more successful in carrying on the name in the Bayou State.  His descendants settled in the Bayou Lafourche/Bayou Terrebonne valley from Assumption Parish down to the coastal marshes of Lafourche and Terrebonne:  

Descendants of Joseph MOLAISON (c1755-c1815; Gabriel dit Recontre)

Joseph, son of Pierre Molaison and Marie-Josèphe Doucet, born probably at Pobomcoup, Nova Scotia, in c1755, followed his parents into exile in France and came to Louisiana with his widowed mother aboard L'Amitié, the fifth of the Seven Ships from France, in 1785.  Joseph settled with his mother on upper Bayou Lafourche, where he married Marie-Marguerite-Pélagie, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Gautrot and Marguerite-Louis Haché, at Ascension in June 1786.  Marie was a native of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, and also had come to Louisiana aboard L'Amitié.  Their daughters married into the Clouâtre, Dechamps, D'Hué, Ledet, and Pitre families.  Three of his daughters and one of his sons were baptized at New Orleans in the 1790s, so the family resided in the city (one wonders why) before returning to the upper bayou.  His belongings were inventoried and recorded at the Thibodauxville courthouse, Lafourche Interior Parish, in March 1815; he would have been age 60 that year.  

1

Oldest son Pierre, born at Lafourche in c1788, married Marie Louise, daughter of fellow Acadians Guillaume Bénoni Hébert and Marie Dantin, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in September 1809.  Their son Pierre Joseph, called Joseph, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1812, Evariste in July 1820, Pierre Melius, also called Pierre, fils, in July 1826, Joseph Adrien, called Adrien, in February 1828, and Joachim in c1830 but died at age 4 in June 1834.  Their daughters married into the Chiasson and D'Hué families.  Pierre, père died in Lafourche Parish in June 1858, age 70.  

1a

Joseph married Marie Azélie, 18-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Valéry Bourgeois and Rosalie Marguerite Richard, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in October 1832.  Their son Joseph Elphége was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in April 1838, Joseph Adrien le jeune in June 1843, and Lovency in April 1848.  Their daughters married into the Boudreaux, Giroir, LeBlanc, and Part families.  Joseph died in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1852, age 40.  

Joseph Elphége or Joseph Adrien le jeune may have married Marie Alzire, called Alzire, Alzina, and also Marcelline, Lefort and settled near Lockport, Lafourche Parish, by the early 1860s.  

1b

Evariste married Adeline, 14-year-old daughter of Nicolas Laine, Laisne, Lene, or Lenée and his Acadian wife Marie Doucetat the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1841.  Their son Jules Homer was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1843, Evariste Justilien, called Justilien,  in December 1844, Eusèbe Adrien in October 1848, and Joseph Léo or Léo Joseph in June 1857 but died at age 18 months in November 1858.  

During the War of 1861-65, Jules served in Company I of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  After he was captured at Vicksburg, he may have served with Company D of the 1st Regiment Louisiana Heavy Artillery at Mobile, Alabama, from which he went absent without leave in January 1865.  Jules married Aglaé Bruse, place and date unrecorded, and settled near Lockport, Lafourche Parish.  

During the War of 1861-65, Justilien served in Company G of the 18th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  Justilien married Elmire, daughter of fellow Acadians Ambroise Arsène Naquin and Louise Bathilde Talbot, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in July 1865.  The settled on the bayou near the boundary between Lafourche and Assumption parishes. 

1c

Pierre, fils married Phelonise daughter of fellow Acadian François Doucet and his Creole wife Marie Adélaïde Engilbert, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in May 1848, and remarried to Azéma, Rosanna, Roséma, or Rosina, daughter of fellow Acadian Hippolyte Hébert and his Creole wife Feralie Rose Ford, at the Thibodaux church in April 1857.  Their son Augustin Oscar was born in Lafourche Parish in August 1858, Henri France in September 1860, and Pierre III in April 1864.  By 1866, Pierre, fils and Rosema were living near Vacherie, St. James Parish, on the river.  

1d

Adrien married Zéolide, daughter of Drosin Toups and Eulalie Estevan, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in May 1855.  Their son Adrien Léon was born in Lafourche Parish in October 1857, and Henri in May 1859.  

2

Joseph, fils, born at Lafourche in c1789, married Adélaïde Constance, called Constance, daughter of fellow Acadians Alexis Lejeune and Barbe Trahan of Morlaix, France, at the Plattenville church, Assumption Parish, in April 1812.  Their son Joseph Marcellus, called Marcellus, was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in February 1821, Jean Baptiste or Evariste, called Evariste, in October 1823, Michel Raphaël in March 1828, Baptiste Augustin or Auguste, called Augustin, in January 1831, and Alexis Joseph or J. Alexis in December 1832.  They also had a son named P. Onésime, called Onésime.  Their daughters married into the Folse family.  Joseph, fils died in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1842, age 54; his succession inventories were filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in May and November 1859, years after his death.  

2a

Evariste married Julie Arthémise, 19-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Jean Pierre Pitre and Rosalie Haché, in a civil ceremony in Terrebonne Parish in May 1844, and sanctified the marriage at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in July 1848.  Their son Henry Philemon was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in October 1848.  Their daughters married into the LeBlanc family.  

2b

Marcellus died in Lafourche Interior Parish in July 1843.  The Thibodaux priest who recorded his burial said that Marcellus was age 25 when he died; he was 22.  He did not marry.  

2c

Michel Raphaël married Carmélite, another daughter of Jean Pierre Pitre and Rosalie Haché, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in April 1851.  Their son Augustin was born in Lafourche Parish in June 1854.  Their daughter married into the Robichaux family.  Michel Raphaël died in Lafourche Parish in June 1855, age 27; his succession inventory was filed at the Houma courthouse, Terrebonne Parish, in March 1856.  

2d

During the War of 1861-65, Augustin served in Company D of the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, raised in Lafourche Parish, which fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi.  He was captured at Vicksburg, paroled, exchanged with his unit, and survived the war.  

2e

Onésime married Aglaé, daughter of Urbain Adam and Joséphine Junot and widow of Aurelien Robichaux, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1867. 

3

Jean-Amable, born at New Orleans in August 1796, probably died young.

4

Youngest son Jean-Baptiste, born at Assumption in June 1805, married Marie Émilie, also called Eulalie and Marie Mélite, 14-year-old daughter of fellow Acadians Joseph LeBlanc and Marie Célanie Breaux of St. James Parish, at the Thibodauxville church, Lafourche Interior Parish, in January 1830.  Their son Joachim Guillaume was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in May 1832, Jean Baptiste Freguis in April 1833, Paul Justin in March 1835, Joseph le jeune in September 1837, and Evariste Émile in July 1839.  Their daughters married into the Guidry, Lapeyrouse, and Rivet families.  Jean Baptiste died by November 1868, when he was listed as deceased in a daughter's marriage record.  

4a

Jean Baptiste Freguis died in Lafourche Parish in February 1854, age 21.  He did not marry.  

4b

Evariste Émile married Odelia, daughter of fellow Acadians Louis Hébert and Marie Rose Gaudet, at the Thibodaux church, Lafourche Parish, in February 1862.  Their son Joseph Arthur, called Arthur, was born in Lafourche Parish in October 1868 but died at age 1 in September 1869.  

4c

Joseph le jeune may have married Marie Alzire, called Alzire and also Marcelline, Lefort in Lafourche Parish in the early 1860s.  

.

A Molaison on Bayou Lafourche cannot be linked to the other family lines there: 

Bazile Molaison married Marie Bonne Bourg, place and date unrecorded.  Daughter Marie Bonne was born in Lafourche Interior Parish in November 1845. 

.

Other MOLAISONs in the Lafourche Valley

Area church and civil records make it difficult to link some Molaison in the Bayou Lafourche valley with known Acadian lines of the family there:

Jean Baptiste Molaison evidently married fellow Acadian Marie Breaux probably in the early 1850s, place unrecorded.  Their daughter evidently married into the Pitre family. 

"Mrs. Joseph Molaison" died in Lafourche Parish, age 40, in July 1864.  The Thibodaux priest who recorded the burial did not give her given name.  One wonders which Joseph Molaison was her husband. 

NON-ACADIAN FAMILIES in LOUISIANA

South Louisiana church records reveal no non-Acadian Molaisons settling in Louisiana during the colonial period.  During the early antebellum period, however, non-Acadians with the name, probably Foreign French, appeared at New Orleans.  Also, a large family of French Basques came to Louisiana from the Pyrénées region of southern France and settled west of the Atchafalaya Basin.  Their surname, Monlezun, is pronounced much like Molaison.  Very few of these newcomers married Acadians:  

Descendants of Dominique MONLEZUN (?-?)

At least three sons of Dominique Monlezun and Marie Maihles of Lalaunce, Department of Hautes-Pyrénées, France, settled in Louisiana:

1

Antoine married Jeanne, daughter of Cadet Loustaueau or Loustaunais of the Department of Basse-Pyrénées, France, at the New Iberia church, then in St. Martin but now in Iberia Parish, in December 1847.  Their son Henri was born near New Iberia in January 1849.  

Henri married Aimée Guex probably in the 1870s.  Their son John Berchman was born near Washington, St. Landry Parish, in May 1883.  

2

Paschal, born at Tarbe, France, in October 1832, married Bernadine Abbadie probably in St. Landry Parish the late 1850s.  Their son Pascal, fils was born near Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, in January 1862.  They settled in Lafayette Parish and then moved to the Rayne area, then in St. Landry but now Acadia Parish.  Their daughters married into the Adam, Baronnet, Bordes, Delacroix, Haure, Murray, and Villa families.  Daughter Marie gave birth to son Dominique near Rayne in August 1880; the priest who recorded the boy's baptism did not name the father.  

Pascal, fils married German Immigrant Linie, Livie, Livinia, or Lucie Plattsmeir in a civil ceremony in Acadia Parish in September 1888.  

3

Dominique, fils, born at Tarbe, France, in April 1845, married Louise Thomassine Peterson, also called Louise MacCarthy, at the Vermilionville church, Lafayette Parish, in June 1874.  Their son Joachim Isidore was born near Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, in January 1876, Paul Émile in November 1877, Théodore in November 1879, and Antoine near Youngsville, Lafayette Parish, in March 1882.  Dominique, fils remarried to Acadian Julie Broussard at the Jennings church, then in Calcasieu but now in Jefferson Davis Parish, in December 1900, or this Dominque may have been a son of Dominique, fils.  

.

J. Monlezan, a 28-year-old clerk from Villimbits, Haute-Garonne, France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Cardinal de Cheveruse out of Bordeaux, France, in February 1839.  Was he kin to Dominique Monlezun? 

P. Monlezun, a 34-year-old "traveller" from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Amerika out of Bordeaux in May 1842. 

J. B., probably Jean-Baptiste, -Placide Monlezien, a 19-year-old laborer from France, reached New Orleans aboard the ship Spartan out of Bordeaux in December 1849. 

François Monlezun, probably a kinsman of Antoine and his brothers, married Louise Urbine Lagrange, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Alexandre married Virginie Jean Marie or Naure, widow of ____ Valette, at the New Iberia church, Iberia Parish, in April 1871.  Their son Lawrence was born near New Iberia in August 1879.  

Evariste Monlezun, probably a kinsman of Antoine and his brothers, married Acadian Odelia Hébert, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Camille married Emma, daughter of German Creole Gabriel Zeringue, at the Franklin church, St. Mary Parish, in March 1894.  Evariste's daughters and Camille's sisters married into the Brems or Brenn, Champagne, Edgerly, and Zeringue families.  

Fernand Monlezun, probably a kinsman of Antoine and his brothers, married Amelia Robert, place and date unrecorded.  Their son Albert married Rita Sanguinette at the Charenton church, St. Mary Parish, in May 1895.  

Joseph Monlezun, probably a kinsman of Antoine and his brothers., married Marie Alzina Lefort, place and date unrecorded.  They settled near Rayne, Acadia Parish.  Their daughter married into the Smith family.  

~

Molaisons, some of them perhaps Acadians from the Baton Rouge area, lived in New Orleans during the late antebellum period and held slaves:  

In August 1850, the federal census taker in Ward 4 of Municipality 1, Orleans Parish, counted 2 slaves--a 45-year-old male and a 40-year-old female, both black--in Widow Molaison's household.  The census taker, in Ward 5 of Municipality 1, Orleans Parish, counted 5 slaves--1 male and 4 females, all black, ranging in age from 30 to 1--in another Widow Molaison's household, and 3 slaves--all male, all black, ages 42, 39, and 37--in the household of yet another Widow Molaison in the same ward.  That same month, the census taker in Ward 2 of Municipality 3, Orleans Parish, counted a single slave--a 50-year-old black female--in J. Molaison's household.  The census taker in Ward 3 of Municipality 3, in early September, counted 5 slaves--3 males, 2 females, all black, ranging in age from 35 to 7--in Jacques Molaison's household.    

In 1860, the federal census taker in New Orleans's 8th Ward counted a single slave--a 19-year-old black male--in A. Molaison's household.    

CONCLUSION

Moulaisons settled fairly late in Acadia, and they came "late" to Louisiana, where their surname evolved into Molaison.  They were among the hand full of families who lived near Cap-Sable at the southwestern tip of the Nova Scotia peninsula.  When the British rounded up the Acadians at Chignecto, Minas, and Annapolis Royal during the fall of 1755, they did not get around to the Acadians at Cap-Sable until early 1756.  The Molaisons eluded the redcoats, but their respite from British oppression was short-lived.  After the fall of the French fortress at Louisbourg in July 1758, the victorious British returned to Cap-Sable and deported the Moulaisons and other Acadians there to Halifax, England, and France. 

If the Spanish government had not coaxed over 1,500 Acadians in France to emigrate to their Louisiana colony, there would be no Moulaisons/Molaisons in the Bayou State today, at least none who were descendants of Acadians.   All of the Acadian Molaisons of South Louisiana descend from first cousins Jacques III and Joseph, both of whom came to the colony from France in 1785.  Jacques III married the daughter of a French nobleman, and their descendants remained in what became West Baton Rouge Parish.  Joseph married a fellow Acadian, and their descendants settled in the Lafourche/Terrebonne valley from Assumption Parish down to the coastal marshes of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes. 

Jacques III was still alive in 1850 when a federal census taker counted 50 slaves on his plantation near Brusly Landing.  The only other Molaisons who held slaves in Louisiana that year lived in New Orleans.  None of Jacques III's cousins in the Lafourche valley held slaves during the late antebellum period, at least none who appeared in the federal census schedules of 1850 and 1860, so they likely were petit habitants who participated only peripherally in the South's antebellum plantation economy.  

A number of Acadian Molaisons served Louisiana in uniform during the War of 1861-65.  Several of them, all from the Lafourche valley, served with the 26th Regiment Louisiana Infantry at Vicksburg.  Extant service records reveal no member of the family losing his life in Confederate service. 

The Molaisons lived in areas of South Louisiana that were especially hard hit by the war.  Early in the conflict, successive Federal incursions devastated the Bayou Lafourche valley, and Confederate foragers also plagued the area when the Federals were driven off.  Even before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in January 1863, Federal commands controlling the lower Mississippi freed the slaves on every farm and plantation their forces could reach.  This would have included the Molaison plantation in West Baton Rouge Parish.  Union navy gunboats shelled and burned dozens of plantation houses along the river, perhaps including the Molaison's. ...

The family's name also is spelled Mailaison, Malaison, Molaisson, Molaizon, Moleçons, Molesan, Moleson, Molezon, Molison, Mollaison, Moloison, Moulezon, Moulizot, Oulizon.  This Acadian family should not be confused with the Monlezuns, who were French Basques, not Acadians.  The Monlezuns did not come to Louisiana until the early antebellum period and settled on the western prairies, where no Molaisons settled.  [For the Acadian family's Louisiana "begats," see Book Ten]

Sources:  1850 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Orleans, West Baton Rouge parishes; 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave Schedules, Orleans Parish; Arsenault, Généalogie, 1607-08; Brasseaux, Foreign French, 1:387, 2:246, 3:220; BRDR, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5(rev.), 6, 7, 8, 10, 11; Delaney, "Chronology of the Deportations"; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 47, 334-35, 374; Hébert, D., South LA Records, vols. 1, 2, 3, 4; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vols. 4, 5, 6, 7, CD; NOAR, vol.s 5, 6; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 79-80; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 133-35; White, DGFA-1, 1236-38; White, DGFA-1 English, 262.  

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day civil parishes that existed in 1861 are in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

For a chronology of Acadian Arrivals in Louisiana, 1764-early 1800s, see Appendix.

The hyperlink attached to an individual's name is connected to a list of Acadian immigrants for a particular settlement and provides a different perspective on the refugee's place in family and community. 

NOTES

01.  Wall of Names, 34 (pl. 8R), calls him Jacques MOULAISON, & lists him with his wife & 3 children; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 79-80, Family No. 156, calls him Jacques MOULAISON, says he was born c1747 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, says he was a seaman & carpenter, details his marriage, including his wife's parents' & previous husbands' names, says that at the time of the marriage he was "resident of the parish of St. Jean L'Evangeliste of Châtellerault," provides the birth/baptismal record of daughter Rose, baptized 21 Jul 1775, Cenan, Vienne, goddaughter of Étienne MOULAISON (his brother) & Adélïde DOIRON, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 134, Family No. 244, calls him Jacques MOULAISON, says he was born c1747 but gives no birthplace, gives his parents' names, says he was a carpenter & seaman, details his marriage, including his wife's parents' & previous husbands' names, includes the birth/baptismal records of daughter Marie-Sophie, born & baptized 25 Dec 1776, St.-Nicolas, Nantes, but gives no godparents' names, & son Jacques, born 27 May 1779, baptized 28 May 1779, St.-Nicolas, Nantes, but gives no godparents' names, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as their voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 38-39, calls him Jacques MOULAISON, charpentier, age 38, on the embarkation list, Santiage MOULAISON, on the debarkation list, & Jacques MOULAISON, carpenter, age 38, on the complete listing, says he was in the 31st Family on the embarkation list & in the 32nd Family on the debarkation list of Le Beaumont with his wife & 3 children, details his marriage, including his & his wife's parent's names but does not give the place of marriage, & says daughter Rose MOULAISON was born in 1775 but gives no birthplace; BRDR, 3:641 (SJO-4, 65), his death/burial record, calls him Jacque MOLAISON, age 77 yrs., married, but does not give his parents' names or mention a wife.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 505, 527.  

02.  Wall of Names, 34 (pl. 8R), calls him Jacques [MOULAISON], & lists him with his parents & 2 sisters; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 134, Family No. 244, his birth/baptismal record, calls him Jacques MOULAISON, does not give his godparents' names, & details the family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 38-39, calls him Jacques, son [Jacques MOULAISON's] fils, age 6, on the embarkation list, Santiage, su [Santiage MOULAISON's] hijo, on the debarkation list, & Jacques MOULAISON, his [Jacques MOULAISON's] son, age 6, on the complete listing, & says he was in the 31st Family on the embarkation list & the 32nd Family on the debarkation list of Le Beaumont with his paernts & 2 sister; BRDR, 3:642 (SJO-3, 60), his marriage record, calls him Santiago MOLAIZON, gives & his wife's parents' names, & says the witnesses to his marriage were Thomas LOSADA & Mr. BERNARD; BRDR, 8:427 (SJB, Brusly-4, 59), his death/burial record, calls him Jacques MOLAISON, age 76 yrs., native Nantes, Bretagne, France.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 505, 527.  

The movements of his family can be found in the baptismal records of his many children in BRDR, vols. 3, 4, & 5(rev.).  Compared to other Acadian families, they did not move far.  They settled first on the east side of the river in the old Baton Rouge District & then moved a few miles down to St.-Gabriel before moving back upriver to the west side, near Brusly Landing in West Baton Rouge Parish, establishing a Baton Rouge-area branch of the MOLAISON family.  

He was one of the last Acadian immigrants in LA to join our ancestors. 

03.  Wall of Names, 41, calls him Joseph MOULAISON; BRDR, 2:320, 536 (ASC-2, 3), his marriage record, calls him Joseph MELANÇON[sic] & places him in that family's section, does not give his or his wife's parents' names, & says the witness to his marriage was Marie COMMO; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:398 (Thib.Ct.Hse.: Succ.: Year 1815), his inventory record, calls him Joseph MOLAISON m. Marie GAUTROS, but does not give his parents' names or the names of his children.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 33, 65, 102, 122, 165; Robichaux, LA Census & Militia Lists, 1770-89, 129.

His birth year is based not on the age given in the passenger list of L'Amitié, which would give him an estimated birth year of c1740, but on a compromise of the ages given in the LA censuses in which he is found, which give him estimated birth years ranging from c1748 to c1756.  

The baptismal record of son Jean-Amable, dated 16 Oct 1792, in NOAR, 6:198 (SLC, B14, 15), calls Joseph "native of Havre de Grace," which was Le Havre.  The baptismal record of daughter Ursule, however, dated 9 May 1799, in NOAR, 6:198 (SLC, B14, 89), says he was "native of Acadia."  The marriage record of son Joseph, fils, dated 12 Apr 1812, in BRDR, 3:641 (ASM-2, 191), says that Joseph, père & his wife Maria GAUTRAUX were "of Havre de Grace."  What does this mean?  That they both lived there at one time?  Joseph's family did not reach France until early 1759, so he was born in Acadia. 

The Acadian Memorial spells his surname MOULAISON.  He is Figure #14 on the Dafford Mural, the man kneeling beside Anselme BLANCHARD.

04.  Wall of Names, 45, calls her Marie-Modeste MOULAISON; BRDR, 2:333, 550 (PCP-19, 34), the record of her second marriage, calls her Marie Modeste MOLESON "of Québec, Canada, & widow of Ambroise BOURG," gives her husband's but not her parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Louis DAIGLE & Jacques MOLESON [probably her uncle].

Although her marriage was recorded at Pointe Coupée, it probably took place at either Bayou des Écores, which never had its own church, or in the Baton Rouge District, which did not have its own church until 1793.  Pointe Coupée priests administered the sacraments across the river at Bayou des Écores & downriver at Baton Rouge until it got its own church.  

05.  Wall of Names, 34 (pl. 8R), calls her Rose [MOULAISON], & lists her with her parents & 2 siblings; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 79-80, Family No. 156, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Rose MOULAISON, says her godparents were Étienne MOULAISON (her uncle) & Adélaïde DOIRON, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 134, Family No. 244, calls her Rose [MOULAISON], & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 38-39, calls her Rose, sa [Jacques MOULAISON's] fille, age 10, on the embarkation list, Rosa, su [Santiago MOULAISON's] hija, on the debarkation list, & Rose MOULAISON, his [Jacques MOULAISON's] daughter, age 10, on the complete listing, says she was in the 31st Family on the embarkation list & the 32nd Family on the debarkation list of Le Beaumont with her parents & 2 siblings, &, calling her Rose MOULAISON, says she was born in 1775 but gives no birthplace; BRDR, 2:216, 550 (PCP-19, 35), her marriage record, calls her Marie-Rose MOLESON of Poitou, gives her & her husband's parents' names, says her husband was from Normandy, & that the witnesses to her marriage were Joseph VAHAMORNDE & Charles BROUSSARD; BRDR, 5(rev.):452 (SJO-11, 37), her death/burial record, omits her name but says she was "age 54 yrs., wife of Louis DAIGLE."  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 505, 527.  

Although her marriage was recorded at Pointe Coupée, it probably took place in the Baton Rouge District, where she & her family settled.  Baton Rouge did not have its own church until 1793, so priests from Pointe Coupée administered the sacraments in the Baton Rouge District until it did.  

06.  Wall of Names, 34 (pl. 8R), calls her Sophie [MOULAISON], & lists her with her parents & 2 siblings; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 134, Family No. 244, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Marie-Sophie MOULAISON, does not give her godparents' names, &, calling her Sophie, details the family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 38-39, calls her Sophie, sa [Jacques MOULAISON's] fille, age 9, on the embarkation list, Sofia, su [Santiago MOULAISON's] hija, on the debarkation list, & Sophie MOULAISON, his [Jacques MOULAISON's] daughter, age 9, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 31st Family on the embarkation list & the 32nd Family on the debarkation list of Le Beaumont with her parents & 2 siblings; BRDR, 2:163, 550 (SJO-3, 5), her marriage record, calls her Maria Sophia MOULAISON, gives her & her husband's parents' names, says her parents were from Nantes, France, & his parents were from "Charbour, France, & that the witnesses to her marriage were Baptiste BOUSEL & Pedro BLANCO.  See also Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 505, 527.  

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